North African Campaign

North African Campaign Part of Mediterranean, Middle East and African Theatre of the Second World War A British Crusader tank passes a burning German Pzkw Mk IV tank during Operation Crusader. 27 November 1941 Date 10 June 1940 – 16 May 1943 Location Libya, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco Result Allied victory; Axis retreat to the Italian peninsula Belligerents Allies: United Kingdom British India Australia South Africa New Zealand United States Free French Poland Czechoslovakia Greece Senussi Rebels Axis: Italy Nazi Germany Vichy France Commanders and leaders Bernard Montgomery Harold Alexander Claude Auchinleck Dwight Eisenhower Archibald Wavell Pietro Badoglio Hans-Jürgen von Arnim Ugo Cavallero Albert Kesselring Giovanni Messe Erwin Rommel François Darlan Casualties and losses Free French 16,000+ killed, wounded, captured, or missing British Empire 50,000+ killed, wounded, captured, or missing United States[1] 2,715 killed 8,978 wounded 6,528 missing (from 12 November 1942) Germany: 12,808 killed[2] Unknown wounded 101,784 + captured[3] 238,000 captured in 1940–1943[4] Italy: 22,341 killed and missing[5] Total Axis:[6] 950,000 total casualties 8,000 aircraft destroyed or captured 6,200 guns destroyed or captured 2,500 tanks destroyed or captured

Mediterranean, Middle East and African theatres of World War II North Africa – East Africa – Mediterranean Sea – Gibraltar – Malta – Dakar – Balkans – Gabon – Iraq – Syria-Lebanon – Bahrain – Palestine – Iran – Italy – Dodecanese – Southern France

North African Campaign Western Desert Campaign – Cape Bon – Alexandria – Mers-el-Kébir – Cape Bougaroun – Torch – Casablanca – Port Lyautey – Tunisia

During the Second World War, the North African Campaign took place in North Africa from 10 June 1940-16 May 1943. It included campaigns fought in the Libyan and Egyptian deserts (Western Desert Campaign also known as the Desert War) and in Morocco and Algeria (Operation Torch) and Tunisia (Tunisia Campaign).

The campaign was fought between the Allies and Axis powers. The Allied war effort was dominated by the British Commonwealth and exiles from German–occupied Europe. The United States entered the war in 1941 and began direct military assistance in North Africa, on 11 May 1942.

Fighting in North Africa started with the Italian declaration of war on 10 June 1940. On 14 June, the British Army's 11th Hussars (assisted by elements of the 1st Royal Tank Regiment [1st RTR] ) crossed the border into Libya and captured the Italian Fort Capuzzo. This was followed by an Italian offensive into Egypt and the capture of Sidi Barrani in September 1940 and then in December 1940 by a Commonwealth counteroffensive, Operation Compass. During Operation Compass, the Italian Tenth Army was destroyed and the German Afrika Korps, commanded by Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, was dispatched to North Africa, during Operation Sonnenblume, to reinforce Italian forces in order to prevent a complete Axis defeat.

A see-saw series of battles for control of Libya and parts of Egypt followed, climaxing in the Second Battle of El Alamein when British Commonwealth forces under the command of Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery, delivered a decisive defeat to the Axis forces and pushed the Axis forces back to Tunisia. Following the Allied landings in North-West Africa, Operation Torch, in late 1942 and after Allied battles against Vichy France forces (which subsequently joined the Allies), the combined Allied forces encircled the Axis forces in northern Tunisia and forced their surrender.

The Axis, by fighting on a second front in North Africa, inadvertently provided a degree of initial relief to the Soviet Union - along the Eastern Front. Information gleaned via British Ultra code-breaking intelligence proved critical to Allied success in the North African theater of Allied operations.

Western Desert Campaign

German light tank with 20 mm gun and machine-gun in rotating turret.

The Northern African Campaign was strategically pivotal to the ambitions of both the Allied and Axis Supreme Commands. For the Allies, the campaign was a very deliberate means of stretching the Axis forces along a second front. Hitler's primary concern remained "Fortress Europa", and it was his determination to focus prime resources towards helping ease pressure along the Eastern Front, that would prove to be of vital relief to the Allied Forces in North Africa and the Mediterranean. The Axis powers had planned to dominate the Mediterranean by first planning to control the pivotal Strait of Gibraltar and also the Suez Canal. Hitler had, along with his War Cabinet, ambitiously planned to follow a successful campaign in North Africa with a strike North to the rich oil fields of the Middle East.^[7] Hitler's primary goals being to: (1) cut off Allied access to the oil supplies, and (2) in so doing, simultaneously and tremendously increase Axis oil supplies for which to power the Axis War Machine.^[7]

Italian L3/33 in North Africa.

On 13 September 1940, Italy launched the Tenth Army stationed in Libya in a 200,000-strong, troop offensive against the, then, British protectorate of Egypt - and set up defensive forts at Sidi Barrani. However, Italian Marshal Rodolfo Graziani, Governor-General of Libya, having little intelligence on the state of Allied forces in the territory, decided to halt any further advances toward Cairo.

The Allied forces numbering 36,000 had to contend with being outnumbered at close to 6:1. Nevertheless, the Allies launched a counter-attack at the end of 1940, Operation Compass. It proved successful beyond all expectations: many Italians perished and over 120,000 were taken prisoner. It literally spelled the end for most the Italian Tenth Army, and secured clear passage for the Allied forces to El Agheila. Despite the stunning and incredible defeat, it did not go unnoticed and soon after fresh Italian troops under Uldo Capzoni together with German troops, the Deutsches Afrikakorps under Erwin Rommel were sent to reinforce the remaining Italian forces in Western Libya. The Allied force responsible for routing the Italians were withdrawn at approximately the same time Axis reinforcements were arriving from the Western Desert. Furthermore, an Australian Infantry Division was sent to reinforce the Greek troops fighting the Axis invasion of Greece while the British 7th Armoured Division (The Desert Rats) were ordered on to the Nile Delta for a refit. On arrival, they were replaced by the British 2nd Armoured and the Australian 9th Divisions.

Although Rommel had been ordered to simply hold the line, an armoured reconnaissance soon became a fully fledged offensive from El Agheila, in March 1941, which (with the exception of Tobruk) managed to cause the Allies to retreat beyond Sallum back into Egypt. This, however, effectively left both sides back at their approximate pre-battle positions in a virtual stalemate. The inaction of both sides would, however, not last for much longer. The Allied forces soon after launched a small attack, Operation Brevity, in an attempt to push the Axis forces back over the border, but the offensive failed. Brevity was followed up by a larger scale offensive, Operation Battleaxe, intended to relieve the siege at Tobruk: however, the second operation also failed.

British Crusader tanks moving to forward positions in the Western Desert on 26 November 1941.

During the drawn out stalemate, the Allied forces reorganised. Archibald Wavell was succeeded as commander in chief Middle East Command by Claude Auchinleck and the Western Desert Force was reinforced with a second Corps to form the new Eighth Army, which was at that time made up of units from the British Army, Australian Army, the British Indian Army, the New Zealand Army and the South African Army. There was also a brigade of Free French under Marie-Pierre Koenig. The new formation launched a new offensive, Operation Crusader, in November 1941 and by January 1942 joint operations had resulted in the recapture of all the territory only recently beforehand acquired by the Germans and Italians. As a consequence, and once again, the front line (axis of advance) would be El Agheila.

After receiving supplies and reinforcements from Tripoli, the Axis again attacked, defeating the Allies at the Gazala in June and in doing so captured Tobruk. The Axis forces drove the Eighth Army back past the border of Egypt where their advance was stopped in July only 90 miles (140 km) from Alexandria in the First Battle of El Alamein.

General Claude Auchinleck, who had personally assumed command of the Eighth Army following the defeat at Gazala, was sacked following the First Battle of El Alamein and was replaced by General Harold Alexander. Lieutenant-General William Gott was initially given command of the Eighth Army; however he was killed en route to taking up his command and was replaced by Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery - who would ultimately take complete command of the Eighth for the remainder of the Desert War.

The Axis forces made a new attempt to break through to Cairo at the end of June at Alam Halfa but were pushed back. After a period of build-up and training, the Eighth launched a major offensive, decisively defeating the German-Italian army during the Second Battle of El Alamein, in late October, 1942. The Eighth Army then pushed the Axis forces westward, capturing Tripoli in mid January 1943. By February, Eighth Army was facing the German-Italian Panzer Army near the Mareth Line and came under command of General Harold Alexander's 18th Army Group for the concluding phase of the war in North Africa, the Tunisia Campaign.

Operation Torch

American troops on board a landing craft.

Operation Torch started on 8 November 1942, and finished on 11 November 1942. In an attempt to pincer German and Italian forces, Allied forces (American and British Commonwealth), landed in Vichy-held French North Africa under the assumption that there would be little to no resistance. Nevertheless, Vichy French forces put up a strong and bloody resistance to Allied forces in Oran and Morocco. But not in Algiers, where a coup d'état by the French resistance on 8 November succeeded in neutralizing the French XIX Corps before the landing and arresting the Vichy commanders. Consequently, the landings met no practical opposition in Algiers, and the city was captured on the first day along with the entire Vichy African command. After three days of talks and threats, General Mark Clark, and Eisenhower, compelled the Vichy Admiral François Darlan (and General Alphonse Juin) to order the cessation of armed resistance in Oran and Morocco by French forces on 10–11 November with the proviso that Darlan would be head of a Free French administration. During Operation Torch, American, Vichy French and German navy vessels fought the Naval Battle of Casablanca, ending in a decisive American victory.

The Allied landings prompted the Axis occupation of Vichy France (Case Anton). In addition, the French fleet was captured at Toulon by the Italians, something which did them little good as the main portion of the fleet had been scuttled to prevent their use by the Axis. The Vichy army in North Africa joined the Allies (see Free French Forces).^[8]

Tunisian Campaign

17 November 1942-13 May 1943.

Following the Operation Torch landings, (from early November 1942), the Germans and Italians initiated a build up of troops in Tunisia to fill the vacuum left by Vichy troops which had withdrawn. During this period of weakness, the Allies decided against a rapid advance into Tunisia while they wrestled with the Vichy authorities. Many of the Allied soldiers were tied up in garrison duties because of the uncertain status and intentions of the Vichy forces.

Captured German Tiger I of the 501st heavy tank battalion in Tunisia.

By mid-November, the Allies were able to advance into Tunisia but only in single division strength. By early December the Eastern Task Force, which had been redesignated British First Army under Lieutenant-General Kenneth Anderson, was composed of British 78th Infantry Division, 6th Armoured Division, 1st Parachute Brigade, 6th Commando and elements of U.S. 1st Armored Division. But by this time, one German and five Italian divisions had been shipped from Europe and the remoteness of Allied airfields from the front line gave the Axis clear air superiority over the battlefield. The Allies were halted and pushed back having advanced eastwards to within 30 km (19 mi) of Tunis.

During the winter, there followed a period of stalemate during which time both sides continued to build up their forces. By the new year, the British First Army had one British, one U.S. and one French Corps (a second British Corps headquarters was activated in April). In the second half of February, in eastern Tunisia, Rommel and von Arnim had some successes against the mainly inexperienced French and U.S. Corps, most notably in routing the US II Corps commanded by Major-General Lloyd Fredendall at the Battle of the Kasserine Pass.

By the beginning of March, the Eighth Army, advancing westwards along the North African coast, had reached the Tunisian border. Rommel and von Arnim found themselves in an Allied "two army" pincer. They were outflanked, outmanned and outgunned. The British Eighth Army shattered the Axis defense on the Mareth Line in late March and First Army in central Tunisia launched their main offensive in mid April to squeeze the Axis forces until their resistance in Africa collapsed. The Axis forces surrendered on 13 May 1943 yielding over 275,000 prisoners of war. This huge loss of experienced troops greatly reduced the military capacity of the Axis powers, although the largest percentage of Axis troops escaped Tunisia. This defeat in Africa led to all Italian colonies in Africa being captured.

Aftermath

After victory by the Allies in the North African Campaign, the stage was set for the Italian Campaign to begin. The invasion of Sicily followed two months later.

See also

• North African Campaign timeline
• List of World War II Battles
• Timeline of World War II (1940)
• Timeline of World War II (1941)
• Timeline of World War II (1942)
• Timeline of World War II (1943)

Footnotes

Allies of World War II

References

• Keegan, John, Oxford Companion to World War II. Oxford University Press, 2001. ISBN 0-19-280666-1
• Playfair, Major-General I.S.O.; and Molony, Brigadier C.J.C.; with Flynn R.N., Captain F.C. & Gleave, Group Captain T.P. (2004) [1st. pub. HMSO 1966]. Butler, J.R.M. ed. The Mediterranean and Middle East, Volume IV: The Destruction of the Axis Forces in Africa. History of the Second World War United Kingdom Military Series. Uckfield, UK: Naval & Military Press. ISBN 1-84574-068-8. 
• Senussi

External links

• BBC's flash video of the North African Campaign
• Timeline of the North African Campaign
• General sites on the North African Campaign
  • Spartacus Educational website: Desert War
  • John, Paul (1997). "World War II Study - Case Study North Africa". http://www.topedge.com/panels/ww2/na/noframe.html. 
  • Zabecki, David T. (2000). "Battlefield North Africa: Rommel's Rise And Fall". Military.com World War II. http://www.military.com/Content/MoreContent?file=PRnafrica. 
  • Barclay, Brigadier C.N.. "Mediterranean Operations". The Story of World War II (Encyclopedia Americana). Grolier Online. http://www.grolier.com/wwii/wwii_8.html. 
• Canadian World War 2 Online Newspaper Archives - The North African Campaigns, 1940-1943
• Redoubt Fortress Museum Home of General Hans-Jürgen von Arnim's Staff Car
• Eastbourne Redoubt
• The Royal Sussex Regimental Association [1]
• AFRIKAKORPS.org/AANA Research Group